Report of the Inspector of Schools, (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Otago Witness, Issue 1764, 12 September 1885, Page 18

Report of the Inspector of Schools, (FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

Wellington, September 4.

The school inspector in his report says : " On the 16th September I inspected the Boys' High School at Dunodin. The school is larger than at any previous time, and the staff is a strong one. Notwithstanding the lamented absence of the principal from a long- continued illness, the organisation is very complete, and the school is in admirable working order. The Otago Girls' High School I visited on the 17th September. It maintains its high character for efficiency. Mrs Burn, who has conducted it for so many years with distinguished ability, is about to retire. The Governors have appointed as her successor Mr' Wilson, whose fitness for the post is evidenced by his service in the boys' school under the same governors." The inspector of schools, reporting on secondary schools, says :— " I have the honour to report that since the 15th September 'I have inspected the training colleges at Dunedin, Christchurch, and Auckland, and most of the high schools of the ' Colony. It is unnecessary to give details as to staff and attendance at each school, since the annual reports of the several institutions, which will be made at the end of the year, will supply full statistics. The same reports will show clearly the general character of each institution with respect to> the scope of instructions imparted and the completeness or necessary imperfection of its organisation. The local authorities generally exercise a very careful supervision of affairs of the schools, and have entrusted the charge of them to very competent principals, who, in their turn, efficiently direct and inspect the work of their subordinates. As a rule the subjects of instruction are properly adapted to the wants of the pupils. The distribution of school time among the several subjects is judicious, and the hours presented iv the time-tables are punctually observed. Fur* ther, in most of the schools there is an alacrity of movement that may be taken to indicate habitual 'energy on the part of the teachers and habitual attention to their work on the part of the majority of the pupils."